Household appliances, such as clothes washers and dryers, generally include a door that covers an opening for accessing the interior of the appliance. Such clothes washers or dryers commonly include a housing, a rotating drum disposed within the housing, and a driver device for driving the rotating drum. In operation, the door of the appliance is opened and clothes or laundry are inserted into the washer or dryer through the opening and placed in the rotating drum and the door is then closed.
Front-load clothes washers and dryers, which have a door positioned on the front of the appliance, have become increasingly popular in recent years for household use. Such front-load washers and dryers commonly include glass or see-through portions in the door to allow an operator to monitor the laundry while it is in the rotating drum.
Such household appliances commonly are positioned side-by-side in a laundry room of a home. In the case of front-load washers and dryers, the door of each household appliance opens out from the front of the appliance. The location of the door hinge determines whether the door is a right-hand opening door or left-hand opening door. The location of water and drain hook-ups, or power outlets, commonly determines whether the dryer can be located on the right hand side or the left hand side of the washer.
In some cases, the proximity of the appliances to walls or doorways, other appliances, or furniture, etc. may affect the location of the appliances. In these cases, it may be desirable to change the swing of the appliance door from a right-hand swing to a left-hand swing, for example, to permit easy access to the appliance.
A dryer door commonly can be configured to be either a right hand door or a left hand door. The dryer door commonly can be configured by the user to open from either side. That is, the dryer door and latch commonly are removable by the user to change the door between a left-hand opening door or a right-hand opening door.
In contrast, the location of the door hinge on a washer door commonly is fixed such that the washer only has a single door configuration. That is, the washer door commonly opens only from one side and cannot be reconfigured by the user to open from a different side.
Commonly, a washer and dryer, which are produced by the same manufacturer and are part of the same model line, have a similar appearance from the outside, since such appliances are often purchased together and installed side-by-side. Despite their similar appearance from the exterior, some of the features, functions, or designs of the washer door can be different from many of those of the dryer door.
The number and type of parts, steps, time, and cost associated with manufacturing and installing the conventional washer door on a washer can be dramatically different from those of a dryer door, which may affect the efficiency, cost, and time of manufacturing a washer or dryer. Moreover, different manufacturing lines or stations may be needed to manufacture a washer door compared to a dryer door, which may affect the efficiency, cost, and time of manufacturing a washer or dryer.
In many conventional household appliances, the appliance door includes a handle formed on an exterior of the door that can be grasped by a user to open and close the appliance door. The handle commonly has a very limited range that can be grasped by the user such that the user applies force to the door at a predetermined location.